Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/494

BED . "Thus lived and died," says Burnet, "this excellent bishop, in whom so many of the greatest characters of a primitive and apostolical bishop did show themselves so eminently, that it seemed fit that he should still speak to the world, though dead; since great patterns give the easiest notions of eminent virtues, and teach in a way that has much more authority with it than all speculative discourses can possibly possess." In person, Bedell was tall and graceful, full of a venerable yet simple gravity, that inspired respect in all who saw him. His deportment was remarkable for being serious and unaffected, gracious and meek. His mind was large, elevated, and vigorous, and adorned with learning and wisdom. He composed in Latin with great elegance, and corresponded with many of the eminent men of his day on the continent of Europe, by whom he was held in great and deserved estimation.—J. F. W.  BEDFORD. See.  BEDFORD,, M.A., a divine, and spirited writer on the abuses of music and the drama, in the first half of the eighteenth century. He was born in 1668, and educated at Oxford. First appointed chaplain to the duke of Bedford, and vicar of Temple in the city of Bristol, and afterwards chaplain to the Haberdashers' Hospital, Hoxton, near London. He published "The Evil and Danger of Stage Plays," 8vo, 1706; "The Temple Musick," 8vo, 1706; "The Great Abuse of Musick," 8vo, 1711; "A Serious Remonstrance against the Blasphemies of the Play-House," 8vo, 1719; "Scripture Chronology," folio, 1730; "The Excellency of Divine Musick," 8vo, 1733. Died September 13, 1745.—E. F. R.  BEDFORD,, born in 1663, was educated at St. John's college, Cambridge. On leaving the university, he obtained a curacy in Lincolnshire, from which he was ejected at the Revolution for refusing to take the oaths. In 1714 he was fined one thousand marks, and condemned to three years' imprisonment, for having published "The Hereditary Right of the Crown of England Asserted," 1713. The real author of the work was a friend of Bedford's, named George Harbin. He published also "An Answer to Fontenelle's History of Oracles," and a translation of the Life of Dr. Barwick. Died in 1724.—J. S., G.  BEDFORD,, Duke of, English regent of France, born in 1389; died September 13, 1435. He was third son of Henry IV., king of England, and Maria de Bohun. According to the usage of the times, he was made chevalier at the age of six years, at the time of the coronation of his brother, Henry V., who, in the twelfth year of his reign, created him duke of Bedford. He afterwards made him, successively, governor of Berwick-upon-Tweed, warden of the Scottish marches, and his lieutenant in England during the sojourn of the king in the French territory. At the death of Henry in 1422, he left to his brother John the arduous task of maintaining his conquests in France—a task, in the execution of which he displayed great energy and sagacity, and was for a time completely successful, notwithstanding many formidable difficulties. In 1429, however, the arrival of Joan of Arc upon the scene changed the aspect of affairs. The victories of that extraordinary woman, and her infamously cruel treatment by Bedford after her captivity, need not be here related. A year after her death, Bedford, paving become a widower by the death of his wife, Anne of Burgundy, married clandestinely Jacquette, daughter of the Count de Saint Paul, a vassal of Philip the Good. This was reckoned derogatory to the rank of his first father-in-law, the duke of Burgundy, and led to a rupture between that nobleman and the English regent. Negotiations followed, which were terminated by the treaty of Arras, when the duke of Burgundy broke asunder the last ties which bound him to the foreigner, and became reconciled to his native prince. This alliance proved at once a death-blow to the duke of Bedford, and the ruin of the English pretensions in France.—G. M.  BEDFORD,, son of Hilkiah Bedford, born towards the commencement of the eighteenth century. After the completion of his studies at the university of Cambridge, he settled at Compton, near Ashbourne, in Derbyshire, where he continued to officiate to a small congregation till his death in 1773. Like his father, he was a nonjurer. He published a "Historical Catechism," and in 1732 an edition of "Symeonis Monachi Dunhelmens libellus de exordio atque procursu Dunhelmensis ecclesiæ," with a continuation to 1154.—J. S., G.  BEDINGFELD,, knight, of Oxburgh, county of Norfolk, one of the wealthiest and most powerful country gentlemen in the east of England, was one of the first who declared for the Lady Mary against Lady Jane Grey, upon the death of Edward VI. He assisted in proclaiming Mary as queen in the eastern counties, and came to her assistance at Framlingham castle in Suffolk, with one hundred and forty men armed cap-a-pié. His exertions caused a strong exhibition of feeling in favour of Mary, and had great influence in securing to her the throne without bloodshed. After Mary's accession. Sir Henry Bedingfeld was appointed knight-marshal of her army, captain of the queen's guards, and constable of the tower of London, and was sworn a member of the privy council. He died in 1583. His great-great-grandson, the owner of Oxburgh, a zealous and devoted catholic (to which religion the family have adhered down to the present time), lost nearly £50,000 in the royalist cause in the time of Charles I., and was created a baronet at the Restoration. The Bedingfelds have as an honorary addition to their heraldic bearings, a fetter-lock, the badge of the house of York, granted to them by Edward IV.—E. W.  BEDOS DE CELLES,, Benedictine of the congregation of St. Maur, member of the Académie des Sciences of Bordeaux, and correspondent of the Académie des Sciences of Paris; born at Caux in the diocese of Beziers, in 1706, and died in 1779. He was the author of the celebrated work, "l'Art du Facteur d'Orgues," published by the French Academy, in 3 vols. folio, 1766-1778. It has lately been reprinted at Paris, continued down to the present time, and forms one of the works of the Encyclopédie-Roret, par M. Hamel, 1849; 3 vols. 12mo and folio.—E. F. R. <section end="494H" /> <section begin="494I" />BEDRASCHI,, a learned Hebrew scholar, who lived in Spain at the close of the thirteenth century. He wrote many works in that language, which were held in high esteem. They went through several editions, and were translated into German and French. That by which he is best known is the "Bechinat-Olam."—J. F. W. <section end="494I" /> <section begin="494J" />BEDR,, a Persian poet of some repute, who lived in the fifteenth century at Shirwan. <section end="494J" /> <section begin="494K" />BEDRIAGA, E., an authoress of some reputation, born in Toer in Russia, February, 1794. She published several clever tales, which were very popular. Died at St. Petersburg, 1830. <section end="494K" /> <section begin="494L" />BEDUSCHI,, an historical painter, born at musical Cremona, 1576. He studied under Antonio Campi, imitator of Giulio Romano, the daring copier of Raphael. This Cremona eclectic school was simultaneous with that destructive one of the Caracci. He died young. His best work is an altar-piece of the "Stoning of Stephen," at St. Sepolcro, Piacenza.

<section end="494L" /> <section begin="494Zcontin" />BEECHAM,, D.D., Wesleyan minister, one of the secretaries of the Wesleyan Missionary Society from 1831 to 1856, and president of the conference, 1850, born in Lincolnshire, 1788, commenced his ministerial career in 1815. He was well qualified, by the purity of his character, by intelligence and untiring application, in connection with a sound judgment and habits of business, for the discharge of the duties of the ordinary ministry, and to meet the more complex and varied requirements of his official position at the mission-house. The question of the rights of the aborigines of our colonies early engaged his attention, and his evidence before the committee appointed by parliament, 1835-6, exhibits just, benevolent, and patriotic views of this important and difficult problem. In the moral and intellectual progress of the Negro races in the West Indies and in Western Africa, he took a deep interest, and had devoted much time and labour to inquiries connected with the geography, ethnology, and languages of Africa. The formation of the mission districts in France, Australia, and British North America, into distinct and independent conferences, affiliated with the original "Conference of the people called Methodists," in England, was in a great degree the result of his influence and exertions—a measure of no small importance in its bearing upon the future relationships and self-supporting character of matured missions to their parent churches. With reference to this object he visited North America in the year 1855, and the fatigues of this journey at his advanced period of life probably hastened his death, which took place in London, April 22, 1856. His chief publications were—An instructive and valuable "Essay on the Constitution of Wesleyan Methodism," 8vo; two pamphlets, in which the question of colonization in many of its aspects is discussed with great ability, especially as bearing upon the proceedings of the New Zealand Company; "Ashantee and the Gold Coast," 12mo, a useful manual of information <section end="494Zcontin" />